Rod clamp or the like



June 14, 1949. PEOPLES 2,473,217

ROD CLAMP OR THE LIKE Filed Sept. 6, 1946 IN VEN TOR. Bun 44 0 M Pro/=4 Es.

sv r v w ATTOR NEYS- Patented June 14, 1949 UNITED- STATES PATENT orrics ROD CLAMP on THE LIKE Edward M. Peoples, Huntington, W. Va., assignor to The Peoplesomp ny, Hun i gton, W'- Va. a corporation of West Virginia Application September 6, 19,46, Serial No. 635, 23;

9 Claims, 1

My invention relates to, a rod clamp or the like, for retaining two. rods with their ends in substantial abutment and at an angle to each other.

My rod clamp is in the form of a bracket and is preferably used for holding the ends of rods to. ether in forming domestic awning frames. Heretofore, domestic awning frames were usually formed of one piece of rod having two right angle bends in the same plane to form the lower sup-.- port for the typical window awning. Due to the. configuration of the rod which was in the, form a p k ing and shipment, as Well a torage, was rather dimcult.

It. is an object of my invention to provide a, rod clamp for holding rod ends together at; an angle, preferably used to form the typical U-.s haped awning rod from three separate rods, u permitting the. rods tov be disassembled for storage and packing, as well as for shipment,

It is an object ofmy invention to provide a rod clamp which may be easily and quickly applied to the rods and which, with a minimum of effort and tools, hold them in. a steady, predetermined position.

It is a further object of my invention to provide such a rod clamp which has a single clamp or re ainin means, such as a bolt nd nu ,v s req r n merelythe u e of a screw driv r or a small coin to assemble or disassemble the strung ture.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a rod clamp which may be very inexpensively manufactured and sold but which efficiently holds rods, such as awning rods, in position for use.

These and other objects of my invention which will be set forth hereinafter or will be apparent to one skill-ed in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that, construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an, exemplary embodiment.

Reference is now made to the drawings which form a part thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my novel rod clamp in position on two rods.

Figure 2 is an end elevation taken from the left in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the clamp shown in Figure 1 taken on the section line 33.

Figure 4 is a section of my novel rod clamp taken on the section line 4-4.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the two halves forming my rod clamp.

Briefly, in the practice of my invention, I provide two substantially identical stamped metal ha ves. w ich carry od e e vin ch nnels at pr determin d ang e. I a so p o de a d pression. and space between the,v depression and the juncure of e channels for holt receivin apert s The two halves are pla ed f ce to face wit the. ds een. them, p itioned in t e channels- The depressed portions register, which act as, a f lcrum when a bolt is inserted in the bolt apertures and a nut is placed thereon. The tightening of the nut on t e lt draws the. channels. o-- gather and snugly holds the, rods in position. In referring to the drawings provide two substantially identical stampings I having rod receivins channels 2 and 3. My st mpin is pref r ly subs antially in the form of an isosce s tri g e with the rod receiving channels 2 and 3 running alon the l s of the trian le. A epr sed p tion 4 preferably in the iorm, of a semi-disc is positioned midway along the hypotenuse of the triangle with a bolt receiving aperture 5 between the apex of the trian le and th depr s Th ch nnel 2. an 3 are less in p h h n half th t ickn ss. of the rods 6 and The d E1v and l are placed in position and two of the stamping's l are placed face to face with the rods 6 and 1 sandwiched therebetween and positioned in the chan ls 2. andv 3. The d press d p i ns 4 of the two halves register with each other and form a fulcrum. A bolt 8 is placed in the bolt receiving apertures 5 and a nut 9 placed thereon- Up n ti htening the put 9 up th lt 8. the channels 2 and 3 of the two halves are drawn to ether against the. p r phery o the rods 6 l and hold them tightly in place. The bolt 8 preferably has a slot ID of sufificient width to accommo ate a small coin, th eliminatin th necessity of a screw driver. Due to the arrangement of the fulcrum forming depressions 4 and the. positioning of the. nut and bolt 9 and 8 a leverage action results which makes it very simpie t cl mp the rods in position between h two halves of the rod clamp.

In as much as both halves l of the rod clamp are identical they may be cheaply and quickly stamped out of any sheet material and nested for shipment in large quantities.

I do not intend to limit, myself to the specific configuration of the stampings, nor the angle of the channels, or the configuration of the depressions 4, since numerous other forms and shapes may be used to retain rods at different predetermined angles without departing from the spirit of my invention.

It is to be understood that modifications may be made in my invention without departing from the 3 spirit thereof, and I do not intend to limit myself otherwise than as pointed out in the claims which follow.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A rod clamp or the like comprising two substantially identical halves of sheet metal in the form of an isosceles triangle having its base corners clipped, and having rod receiving channels running along the legs of the triangle, a depressed portion forming a fulcrum adjacent the middle of the base and bolt receiving apertures between the depression and the apex.

2. A rod clamp for retaining two rods in substantial abutment and at right angles to each other comprising two substantially identical halves of sheet metal in the configuration of a rightisosceles triangle having its base corners clipped and adapted to be placed on opposite sides of the rod ends, said halves having rod receiving channels adjacent the legs of the triangle and a depressed portion adjacent the middle of the hypotenuse of the triangle forming a fulcrum and having bolt receiving apertures between the depression and the apex of the triangle.

3. A rod clamp for retaining two rods in substantial abutment and at right angles to each other comprising two substantially identical halves of sheet metal in the configuration of a right isosceles triangle having its base corners clipped and adapted to be placed on opposite sides of the rod ends, said halves having rod receiving channels adjacent the legs of the triangle and a depressed portion adjacent the middle of the hypotenuse of the triangle forming a fulcrum and having bolt receiving apertures between the depression and the apex of the triangle, said channels being less in depth than the radius of the rods.

4. A rod clamp for retaining two rods in substantial abutment and at right angles to each other comprising two substantially identical halves of sheet metal in the configuration of a right isosceles triangle having its base corners clipped and adapted to be placed on opposite sides of the rod ends, said halves having rod receiving channels adjacent thelegs of the triangle and a depressed portion adjacent the middle of the hypotenuse of the triangle forming a fulcrum and having bolt receiving apertures between the depression and the apex of the triangle, said channels being less in depth than the radius of the rods, and said depression being in the form of a half disc.

5. A rod clamp for retaining two rods in substantial abutment and at right angles to each other comprising two substantially identical halves of sheet metal in the configuration of a right isosceles triangle having its base corners clipped and adapted to be placed on opposite sides of the rod ends, said halves having rod receiving channels adjacent the legs of the triangle and a depressed portion adjacent the middle of the hypotenuse of the triangle forming a fulcrum and having bolt receiving apertures between the depression and the apex of the triangle, said channels being less in depth than the radius of the rods, and said depression being in the form of a half disc, and of a depth substantially equal to the difierence between the radius of the rod and the depth of the channel.

6. A rod clamp for retaining the ends of two rods in substantial abutment and at an angle to each other which consists of two substantially triangularly configured similar plates and a single bolt carrying a nut running through the approximate center of the plates and holding them together, rod receiving channels adjacent two legs of the triangle and projecting fulcrum means adjacent the middle of the third leg of the triangle, so that tightening the nut and bolt will force the channels of opposite plates together against the rods.

'7. A rod clamp for retaining the ends of two rods in substantial abutment and at an angle to each other which consists of two similar plates adapted to be positioned on opposite sides of the rods, and having channels for receiving the rods, abutting projections cooperating as a fulcrum and bolt receiving apertures between the projections and rod ends.

8. A rod clamp for retaining the ends of two rods in substantial abutment and at an angle to each other which consists of two similar plates adapted to be positioned on opposite sides of the rods, and having channels for receiving the rods, abutting projections cooperating as a fulcrum and bolt receiving apertures between the projections and rod ends, said channels being less in depth than one-half the thickness of the rods.

9. A rod clamp for retaining the ends of two rods in substantial abutment and at an angle to each other which consists of two similar plates adapted to be positioned on opposite sides of the rods, and having channels in said plates for receiving the rods, abutting projections cooperating as a fulcrum and bolt receiving apertures between the projections and rod ends, said channels being less in depth than one-half the thickness of the rods, said abutting projections being in the form of a semi-disc.

EDWARD M. PEOPLES.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Eaton Dec. 27, 1932 

